My Style of Teaching

When becoming a teacher, one must think about what teaching strategies he/she believes will benefit the students the most. There is the ever classic textbook-type teaching and the lecture style of teaching, but I have become very interested in the project-based learning style of teaching. Sure, a good balance of every style must be presented to the students, as each student learns differently, but I believe a project-based style of teaching would really benefit students. I believe so, because for each project, a student must do his/her research on their own instead of me just reciting them the information (which I would have to do first, then they would have to research more info for their projects). If they have to look up information, usually the information would stick with them more. The students have the opportunity to dig deeper in whatever we are learning about at that time. It is also beneficial in that projects typically encourage creativity and individuality. It seems like in today's society, we are not encouraging creativity as much as we should. The students might be able to do something they are passionate about and go above and beyond with their project.

 My mentor, Mr. Cantrell, uses this strategy in his classroom. They do a project for every standard. For example, they are beginning to work on a project Mr. Cantrell dubbed "The Mammoth Project"(which it truly is); the students have to look more into the lives of soldiers and events of the Civil War. They can make a North Star quilt (quilt to indicate a safe house of the Underground Railroad), make a regiment flag, create a diorama of a battle, and basically anything they would like to do (with the approval of Mr. Cantrell) that they are passionate about to learn more about the Civil War. I remember doing this project when I was in his class (an odd 3 years ago) and I learned so much more than I would have reading a textbook or taking notes about it. I really enjoyed this project, and I am looking forward to be able to help the current students with their projects.

On a somewhat different note, our big Honors Mentorship final project is coming up. We are required to come up with an essential question that is related to our choice of career and our mentorship and present it to a big group of people at the end of the year (doesn't it sound scary?). What I would really like to discuss, is project based learning. Distinguish and evaluate the pros and cons of project based learning and comparing and contrasting project-based learning techniques with other strategies would be my "essential question/statement". It is something that I am really passionate about and fully believe in this idea. I would be able to go in depth with this topic. Is it wrong that I am beginning to become excited for this project?


~Sarah